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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24075397">Fallen</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SenselessWorks/pseuds/SenselessWorks'>SenselessWorks</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>From Crait to Exegol [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Minor Character Death, References to Depression</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:34:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,140</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24075397</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SenselessWorks/pseuds/SenselessWorks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey, Finn and Poe are scouting a locations for a potential new base.  When they step out onto unstable ground, Rey saves her friends at her own expense.</p><p>Severely injured, Rey is going to die before her friends can get to her without Kylo's help.</p><p>One shot, and a sequel to my first one shot, Scavenger</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Finn/Rose Tico, Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>From Crait to Exegol [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1739167</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>129</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Fallen</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Since Rey made her little foray to Rattataki, her mood has been looking up.  She was able to repair some old med droids and replace R2's motivator which was starting to wear out.  Selling the rest of her scavenged load she was able to purchase much needed medical supplies for the final stages of Rose's treatment, and some admittedly bland but nutritious ration packs to help feed the Resistance which has now swelled to a depressingly small 40 people but its a start .</p><p>Not to mention, she's stuck it to the First Order and shown Kylo Ren she's doing fine without him, thank you very much. And shown Poe and Finn she's perfectly capable of looking after herself without them.</p><p>So Rey is not very impressed when Leia sends them out as a team to scout for a location for a new facility,  It's intelligence, or counterintelligence or something to do with spying anyway.</p><p> </p><p>The first world they visit is all snow and ice and cold and she can't bear to step out of the ship. The ship is an old yacht design, probably luxury when it was built towards the end of the Republic, but it's seen better days.  The <em>Falcon</em> is too noticeable so they've all agreed - <em>really Poe just decided</em> -  its not suitable for a spying mission.  Or whatever this is.  And she misses BB-8, but Leia had been adamant.  <em>No droids, especially that one</em>.  Leia wasn't being unkind - the First Order just seems to have forgotten to revoke the bounty on the droid.</p><p>When Poe finally convinces her she wont freeze to death if she walks through the old Resistance base, she grumbles about hell being an extreme at either end of a thermometer, and for the first time in ages she wishes she was back on Jakku.  As she enters the hallways though, she grows silent.  There's a history here, and in this corridor she can <em>see</em> a young Leia arguing with Han Solo, a young and still idealistic Luke Skywalker running past in a flight suit.  Rey gasps and holds her breath as she hears mechanical breathing, the hum of a lightsaber, and sees a Stormtrooper decked in snow gear stalking past.  She shakes her head to clear the vision, but she already knows this place is all wrong.</p><p>She's not used to walking on snow and ice, and as they walk into the old control room, it's screens and stations in ruins from the Imperial raid that had ended the Rebel's occupation of the facility, her left boot hits a patch of slick ice and she loses her footing.  As she slips and falls backward, both Poe and Finn are looking at her, and they both yell at the same time.</p><p>"Rey!"</p><p>They're always yelling her name. </p><p>Poe comms the General to tell her the base is unsuitable, far too much damage and far too remote to be useful without resources they just don't have, but Leia doesn't really seem surprised. </p><p>If it's so remote, Rey wonders, why did they come here in the first place? </p><p>Still Rey can now claim to have seen the two opposing poles of hell - Jakku and Hoth - so she supposes she has something interesting to talk about.</p><p> </p><p>Anoat is another kind of hell hole Rey decides.  The air is thick, the planet heavily polluted, and whilst the First Order would never think to look for them here she highly doubts anyone forced to stay here would survive more than a week anyway. Of course Poe and Finn yell her name again when she starts choking on the polluted air half way off the ramp and has to sit down before she falls.  She wonders if the whole damn sector knows her name by now.</p><p>She has to wash herself of in the 'fresher for what feels like an hour to get the miasma from her body, and rather than try to clean the clothes she wore she decides the first stop they make onto solid ground she will <em>burn</em> them.  Thankfully she brought a few changes of clothes with her this trip.</p><p> </p><p>Lothal is nice, and Rey thinks she'd like to come back here some day, on her own of course.  They are landing about a hundred clicks from the ruins of a legendary Jedi temple, Poe tells her, and when she steps off the ship she can hear...<em>singing</em>.  Something is calling her, off in the general direction Poe tells her the temple lays.</p><p>She can't help it, that call is almost irresistible, and though she has every intention of following Finn and Poe her feet lead her away of their own volition.</p><p>When Finn and Poe realise she is not behind them anymore, they are frantic.</p><p>"Rey!'</p><p>She's gone ten clicks by the time they catch up, and that singing is still calling her.  It's only when Poe threatens to throw her over his shoulder kicking and screaming that Rey submits and follows them back. So now she's grumbling to herself at the mess table, knees to her chest, with an expression that could send a Rancor fleeing.  She's so irritated that before she knows it she's relaxed her barriers and there's a familiar rush of sound in her ears.</p><p> </p><p>Kylo looks even better than last time she saw him.  Not that he looks <em>good</em> mind you - Kriff who is she kidding even at his most exhausted looking and wearing his most snide expression, the murderous snake is <em>gorgeous</em> - but the bags under his eyes are less prominent and his eyes a little brighter.  He's always pale, but there's more colour and he is less gaunt.</p><p>"You're upset," Kylo tell her.</p><p><em>I should be wishing him a boil on his backside</em>, she thinks sourly, but Rey schools herself into her most calm expression.</p><p>"You know, I could hear you grumbling from all the way over here.  I wonder how far exactly... where are you right now?"</p><p>She scowls at him, but says nothing.</p><p>"I'm in orbit around Arkanis" Kylo offers.</p><p>There's quite a few sectors between them then. <em>I really must have been upset.</em></p><p>"Oh well why don't we meet for a cup of caf, I'm not far off." She's taunting him, just a little, but he's not buying it.</p><p>"I've never lied to you Rey.  Why can't you show me the same courtesy?"</p><p>The bond snaps closed, and Rey is left staring open mouthed at the space where he'd just been standing.</p><p> </p><p>Rey's sick and tired of this trip.  She's bored, Finn and Poe are treating her like a first day recruit, and the condescension is more than she can bear.  Technically, she supposes, she <em>is</em> a raw recruit.  Rey had no basic training, no officer courses, she just walked into this whole mess and now she's somehow their new Jedi hope.  The whole idea is ridiculous, and the pressure of meeting the unspoken expectations of the Resistance, coupled with this trip, is crushing her.</p><p>She wants to get away from them all, do something exciting and fun and maybe even a little bit dangerous.  Like exploring the most unstable levels of a down Star Destroyer to get the pick of the spoils, swinging across the gaps in the decking on a this rope, and shimmying down support beams into secret hiding holes where all the things Plutt will pay well for are found.  She's sick of trudging around disgusting polluted planets, wastelands hot and cold, and swamps.  There's been a half dozen of them so far, all of them unsuitable and if Poe would only kriffing listen to her she's sure she could use the Force to find the right one and then they can just go home.  To base anyway.  Rey doesn't really feel like she has a <em>home</em> anymore.</p><p> </p><p>She's in the mess again, not that its really a mess hall, but it's the farthest place Rey can get from Finn and Poe in the cockpit, and besides the food is here.  Rey picks at some dried fruit, little puckered berry things that are surprisingly sweet but have a leathery texture.  She's not sure about them, but a lifetime of starvation has taught her not to care about such niceties when they can be the difference between life and death.  Rey supposes she's going to spend the rest of her life being dragged around looking for the Force only knows what, never doing anything fun again and dying of boredom.  And despite the fact that she's been stuck in a fairly small ship with two other people for almost two weeks, she's feeling incredibly alone.  She can't help thinking about that moment she almost took Kylo's hand... if she had accepted his offer she'd never have been alone again.  It's been, what, four standard months?  A while anyway.  Long enough to have stopped being so angry with him, and start getting angry and Finn and Poe.  But mostly Poe.</p><p>A rushing sound, and Kylo is sitting on the other side of the table.  Except he's not really sitting in that chair, which seems to have disappeared, but from the way he raises his arm above his head and seems to move something - is he flicking a switch? - Rey thinks he's probably at the controls of a vessel.  Maybe his TIE?</p><p>Rey commits what on Jakku would be a mortal crime - she flicks one of the dried berries at him <em>wasting food</em>.  Kylo catches it, examines it, and then <em>eats it</em>.</p><p><em>That</em> was new.  And Kylo can see her raise one eyebrow in momentary surprise, before she loses interest and her face drops back into it's previous morose expression.</p><p>"You look unhappy."</p><p><em>Well done for stating the kriffing obvious</em>, Rey rolls her eyes.  But she needs to <em>vent</em>, and he's not being his usual arrogant self...</p><p>"I've been stuck with these kriffing banthasplat pigheaded nerfherders for two weeks.  I'm sick of it.  I'm <em>bored</em>."</p><p>Kylo's lips twitch.  The curses are colourful, but its the most he's ever got out of her regarding what she's actually up to with the resistance, and the first time she's acknowledged she's not entirely thrilled with her position.</p><p>"If you tell me where you are, I can come save you from it.  Do something...fun?"</p><p><em>Persistent bastard</em>, Rey thinks, <em>and his idea of fun is probably running me through with his light saber.  </em></p><p>"I went to Ratataki," he says suddenly, and Rey eyes him with slightly more interest. "I found the Stormtroopers you stole. In a tavern of all things."</p><p>"I suppose you sent them to reconditioning," Rey mutters, offering him a rather sour expression.  But his answer surprises him.</p><p>"I had a drink with them actually.  And before you ask they're still alive."</p><p>Rey doesn't want to believe him, but she knows he has never knowingly lied to her.  Withheld things, sure.  Let her draw wrong conclusions, definitely.  But lied, never. </p><p><em>I</em><em>t's against his code or something, </em>Rey thinks sourly.  He's offer is more tempting than realises though.  She's enroute to Malastare of all places, and Rey has a very bad feeling about all this.</p><p>When she thinks about stepping off onto this new planet, <em>something</em> is telling her not to go.  Fly away, run away, even to Kylo Ren if she has to.  And anyway, she's just plain tired of this mission and getting paranoid, right?</p><p>Rey wont betray her friends, even if they're the ones torturing her with this unending traipse through the dregs of the galaxy.</p><p>They've been sitting there in comfortable silence for a while, but she doesn't want Kylo to think she's actually enjoying his company.  So she just throws another berry at him.  He catches this one too, and also eats it.</p><p>"How the kriff are you doing that Kylo."</p><p>He just shrugs.  Kylo has some suspicions about what this bond may be, but he's not going to share it.  He might be able to use it to persuade her to come to him.</p><p>"You know how to find me if you change your mind Rey."</p><p> </p><p>Malastare, Poe explains to her as if she were a child, used to be a paradise.  It was covered in jungle, exquisitely beautiful, and teeming with life.  But under the surface are vast quantities of fuel, and Malastarian fuel helped power the Imperial regime.  Most of the planet is a toxic dump of fuel byproducts, and there's a dead feeling here, like something terrible happened in the Force.  Despite the fact that the air quality is better, Rey thinks she'd prefer Anoat to this pile of banthasplat.</p><p>Rey just wants to get out of here, so she walks quietly behind Poe and Finn and tried to make sure they've got no reason to yell her name again and alert every bounty hunter in the sector to her location.  Leia had regretfully informed Rey this morning the First Order had tripled the bounty on her, but Rey is secretly pleased Kylo has indicated he will only pay it for her alive, and in good condition.  Rey's also not sorry that Leia has decided this will be Rey's last mission, and confined to base.  She doesn't want to be stuck on Ajan Kloss, but then again she doesn't want to be sent out on a trip like this again either</p><p>Only a hundred feet out from the ship Finn and Poe pause to consult their map, and Rey ignores them as they argue about whether they landed in the right place or not.</p><p>She looks around her at the terrain.  There's long, large cracks in the earth running in parallel lines, Rey is reminded of her earlier negative feelings about coming here.  This place feels very wrong.</p><p>Rey reaches out with the Force, feeling her way beneath her, and she realises there is a huge, empty space below them and the earth beneath their feet is unstable.  Their landing has further destabilised the ground and set off a chain of events that there is now no time to escape from.  There's a warning tremor, and Rey realises time is almost out.</p><p>So Rey draws in as much of the Force as she can, seeking out safe ground.  <em>Close,</em> <em>so close.</em> If they had only been another fifty feet to the east they would have been on a safe path.  Still containing the gathered Force within her, Rey reaches out and with both her hands she picks up Finn and Poe with the help of the Force and <em>throws</em> them, trying to cushion their landing.  She has no time to jump herself however.</p><p>As the ground beneath her feet begins to cave in, time moves so slowly Rey seems to have forever to ponder four things, but attends the last one longest.</p><p>First, Finn and Poe have been thrown to relative safety just as she intended, although they look pained and she thinks they've both broken bones.</p><p>Second, the exact spot she is standing over seems to be the opening to some sort of shaft, and its deep.  Deeper than the rest of the cracks around her.</p><p>Third, the ship's gone. </p><p>And fourth, looking at her as she is about to fall to her death is Kylo Ren. </p><p>She would have thought Kylo would be pleased he doesn't have to kill her himself, after all they're on opposite sides of a war and destined to destroy each other.  But Kylo doesn't look like he's happy.  In fact he looks horrified, and Rey thinks she hears Kylo Ren screaming her name along with Finn and Poe as he slips below where the ground used to be. </p><p>And the last thing Rey thinks before she strikes her head and is embraced by sweet oblivion, is whilst she's really had enough of Finn and Poe yelling her name, she doesn't mind Kylo calling out to her.</p><p> </p><p>The bond only opened for a handful of seconds, but Kylo knows they are the worst of his life so far.  Even if somehow she's okay, he knows that moment when she slipped under the earth will haunt him forever.  He didn't understand it - she could have easily saved herself but instead, she grabbed the <em>traitor</em> and the pilot.  Once she was touching them he could see them and what she was doing.  There had been look of acceptance of her fate on her face. </p><p>They had been holding the morning briefing, and Kylo realises all of his Councillors have seen his reaction, heard him scream her name, and are staring at him.  Hux is opening and closing his mouth soundlessly like a fresh caught fish.  Kylo forgoes the usual Force choke on Hux to illustrate his point as he orders them all out.  Instead he draws his saber and offering to shorten by the height of their head anyone still in the room by the count of ten.  It's the fastest he has ever cleared the briefing room.</p><p>Kylo doesn't know where she is, he just knows she's hurt and it must be bad because there's an ache in his head and his vision swims unless he focusses, and the injury is far worse than what he's feeling because the bond is so weak.  Other sensations assault him - there are fractures he thinks, and an overall weight on his body.</p><p><em>She's buried somewhere</em>, Kylo realises, and the thought brings a fresh wave of panic.  But he can still feel her, the connection not completely broken, and he knows she is still alive.</p><p> </p><p>He's not sure he can make the bond open.  He's thrown his mind against the barriers between them many times, with very limited success.  Occasionally a few stray thoughts, a few stolen glimpses or a smatter of her side of a conversation.  Once for a few seconds there was a full connection, as she slept. </p><p>He thinks that <em>most</em> of the time the bond opens whenever the Force sees fit to do so, but occasionally there's a strong emotion one of them is feeling, or an intense need, and almost like a cry for help and then they are drawn together.  Now Rey is in desperate need, and he has to try.</p><p>Kylo closes his eyes, trying hard to bring himself into a meditative state, and <em>pushes</em>.  There's a feeling almost like a reverberation, knocking on a door that stays closed.  Kylo thinks of Rey hurt and alone, and needing help, and he redoubles his effort.  His mind pushes, and tears at the barrier.</p><p> </p><p>Rey is floating, free, like she is in the lake where Poe taught her to swim while Finn and Rose watched them from the dock.  It's a wonderful feeling, but she can't remember how she got to the lake, or why she decided to go swimming at night.  And it has to be night, because it's dark with only a hint of diffuse light somewhere in the distance.</p><p><em>But that's not right</em>, she thinks, <em>I'm not on the base.  I was walking somewhere with Finn and Poe, and it was bright daylight outside.</em></p><p>Now she's no longer floating but sinking, like she's being sucked down by the sinking fields of Jakku, sand all around her and pressing down on her.</p><p> </p><p>Rey ran into a sinking field once.  She was only about six or seven, still in a broken run down hut at Niima outpost with seven other children. Eight small bodies all crammed into a space meant for half that number.  She remembers the sand around her ankles at first, struggling against it and being pulled down faster. She was in it to her waist she thinks, and already she felt like she was being crushed when she escaped.  She was only little, so she doesn't remember how she managed it, but she remembers waking up on the edge of the field in normal sand, and the predatory thugs she'd been running from were gone.  Or maybe it never happened at all and it was just a nightmare so real her mind has turned it into memory.</p><p>She's confused.  Her head hurts, a sharp pain to her right temple which is warm and wet.  There's noise like someone is talking to her but she can't make sense of it.  It's not completely dark, a soft greenish glow from some sort of scattered rock around her, but she can't focus on anything.  Movement, a shadow that moves around her.  Most of her is buried under rubble, and can't move.</p><p>A hand on her face, brushing dirt and hair away.  Whoever it is must be talking to her, but she can't make out the words as much as she tried to.  Her eyes try to find whoever it is, but they wont focus. She's so tired, and she feels <em>so much pain</em>.  Her eyes roll back in her head and she is back floating in the lake.</p><p> </p><p>Kylo can't believe it actually worked.  He's here on the floor of his briefing room, but also sitting in front of her.  Normally he can only see Rey, maybe a little bit of the ground directly below her feet, and often something she might be directly touching.  He's surprised at how much he can see with this connection, the rubble she is buried under, although he supposes everything he sees is in some way affected by or directly connected to Rey's physical form.</p><p>There is a large gash on her right temple and it is <em>gushing</em> blood.  She's lying slightly on her left side he thinks, although its difficult to tell exactly the way her body is lying because she's buried from the neck down in rubble. Her left arm is thrown out in front of her, but the other one is buried along with the rest of her. Its a miracle that this much of her is still exposed and she can breathe.  He pulls off his gloves as he scrambles over to her, tears a length off the bottom of his cloak and presses it to her temple to stem the bloodflow.  </p><p>Rey makes a small sound, and tries to retreat from the pain he is causing.  But he needs to keep pressure on her temple.  She's not really conscious, but she's responding to pain, and he thinks that is a good sign.  He gently draws strands of her hair away from her eyes, and checks the pulse at her neck.  It's strong, steady, and regular.</p><p>"Rey.  Can you her me Rey."</p><p>He doesn't think she can hear him, at least not the words, but her eyes are open now.  They are oddly glassy,  but she does seem to be trying to focus on him as he waves his fingers in front of her face.</p><p>"Rey, you had a fall.  Can you remember?"</p><p>Her lips are moving, but she can't coordinate her tongue to speak.  He tries calling her name again but he gets a strange impression Rey is floating away from him, and Kylo tries not to panic when her eyes roll back in her head and she is out again.</p><p>Kylo needs to know the full extent of her injuries.  So he frantically starts scraping away the rubble around her with the hand that isn't pressed to her forehead.</p><p>It takes him a full five minutes before his panic subsides enough to think of using the Force.  When he reaches out to feel her, run his mind across her body to look for each injury, Kylo's alarm reaches new heights.  He needs to get her out of here <em>now</em>.</p><p> </p><p>When Rey begin to surface again she isn't buried anymore.  There's still pain, an inordinate amount of it, and its the first thing she is aware of.  But her chest can expand and contract without so much effort.  It hurts to breath though, and there's other pains that she can feel distantly.  There worst thing is her head.  A pounding insistent pain in her skull, and there's a numbness to her thoughts, her lips, her tongue.</p><p>"Can you hear me Rey."</p><p>She <em>knows</em> that voice.  She should be afraid of it she thinks, but it's warm, familiar, like the early morning Jakku sun before the torturous heat of the day sets in. </p><p>"Ben," Rey mutters, and she can hear a deep breath beside her. </p><p><em>That's not right.  Or is it?</em>  Rey frowns.  She knows Ben, and this <em>is</em> Ben, but it is also someone else. </p><p> He's kneeling next to her, his large head of dark curls peering down at her.  She tries to smile at him but she cant make her mouth move the right way, so she gives up.</p><p>"You had a bit of an accident.  You're... hurt.  It's pretty bad Rey."</p><p>Rey just blinks at him.  She thinks she doesn't really want to die, but is comforted by the idea that she wont be alone when it happens. Ben is here with her.</p><p>"Can you tell me <em>where</em> you are Rey?"</p><p>Rey mumbles thickly, trying to get out a word that seems to have multiple syllables and she can't quite coordinate the effort.  It seems like she might be trying to tell him she is <em>underground</em>, and he's not sure if she is being deliberately evasive or is just too confused and giving him the obvious, literal answer</p><p>He's more worried about the latter.  He knows now what her injuries are, cracked ribs, broken femur and pelvis, broken wrist and a dislocated shoulder.  Bruising and cuts everywhere. Most of her injuries are painful but should heal just fine with some bacta.  The head injury though... There's a hairline fracture over her right temple and her brain is swelling.  The laceration has stopped bleeding, but it's still an outward sign of a more sinister problem that fills him with fear.</p><p> </p><p>Kylo can remember the last summer he spent on Chandrilla, fifteen year old Ben home from the Academy for a short visit.  <em>Aluna</em>, their neighbour's daughter, who had invited him to join her friends on a picnic by the beach.  He'd said yes despite being shy, because he liked her and she was kind to the awkward looking Ben. She had kissed his cheek.  Ben had felt the premonition through the Force but too late and he was too far down the beach, and too many people in the way, to get to her in time.  She fractured her skull when she fell from the rocks, and had never woken up.</p><p>Kylo can't let that happen to Rey.</p><p>"I need to know what planet you're on Rey.  I have to get you out of here as soon as possible."</p><p>"See-crit," she mutters, and Kylo groans in frustration. </p><p>"No Rey, you have to tell me <em>where you are</em>, you're in danger."</p><p>Rey frowns against the pain, and the memory of the last two weeks. She's tired, and she wants this pain to go away, but more than anything she just wants to hold Ben's hand. Why did she turn away from him?  She had wanted to take his hand.  If she tells him where she is, she can take it back.</p><p>But Rey can't make the words.  She tries to tell him, but just can't coordinate her mouth, and she can't remember the name if the planet she is on anyway.  But maybe she can tell him something about it that might help, if she can just get out one clue.</p><p>"Fuel" Rey breathes.  And she's feeling proud of herself.</p><p>Kylo thinks he wants to cry.  She's in a bad way, despite the fact that she is talking, and they are wasting time he could be flying to her.  And he can smell the air in her location.  Stale, stuffy, with a chemical undertone and he thinks the hole she feel down is so deep that it's likely the oxygen supply is limited.  Even without the skull fracture she's on borrowed time.</p><p>He cradles her to him and tries to get her attention.</p><p>"Rey, you have to tell me where you are.  If you don't tell me I can't find you"</p><p>But Rey isn't really hearing him anymore.  She's mumbling instead, half words that don't make any sense, and when she grows silent and still Kylo assumes the worst for a moment.  But he can see her chest rising and falling, so instead Kylo lays her gently down, and away from  her. </p><p>He's on the edge, with a need to lash out, and he doesn't want to be holding her when it happens.  He grabs a handful of rubble, crushing it in his palms and <em>screams.</em>  What makes it worse is that Rey doesn't even flinch, there's no response at all.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly he's back in the briefing room, and how the <em>kriff</em> is he supposed to find her now? </p><p>There's a timid knock on the door.  Mitaka, who is terrified of Kylo Ren yet loyal to him nonetheless, and has heard the scream.  Mitaka, despite the abuse Kylo has heaped on him, is <em>worried</em> for him.</p><p>"Are you alright, Sir?"</p><p>"Come in Mitaka."</p><p>Theres a long, drawn out sigh from Kylo as Mitaka enters the room.  Kylo's fists ache where he has been clenching his bare hands, and as he opens them he realises.... there's something in his hands.  Some of the rock that fell around Rey, mostly crushed to dust in his powerful grip but there a few small fragments.  It's strange though, it has an odd greasy consistency and a peculiar odour that Kylo can vaguely recognise.  It reminds him of..<em>fuel</em>.  Rey mentioned fuel. </p><p>"Mitaka, take this sample to be analysed.   Immediately please. Don't come back without the results."</p><p>Mitaka thinks he might have heard the word "please" once or twice from Kylo Ren in the six years he's been serving, but the courtesy is rare and he is surprised.  He scoops some greasy dust and a few chunks into a clean water glass and scurries off.  And score one for First Order efficiency - Mitaka is back with a preliminary report in under 10 minutes.  Mitaka <em>might</em> have told the lab this was the number one priority for the Supreme Leader, and he <em>may</em> have mentioned pointed lessons with a lightsaber to those who failed to comply as an incentive.</p><p>Kylo has been trying to reconnect to Rey in Mitaka's absence, unsuccessfully.  He's so grateful to Mitaka when he hands him the report that he forgets to be an arsehole and even thanks him.  Immediately he understands why the smell is familiar.  The dust and fragment of rubble contain the residue of unrefined <em>Malastarian fuel</em>, and he recalls his days on the <em>Night Buzzard</em> with the Knights of Ren.</p><p>But Kylo has a serious problem.  The <em>Finalizer</em> has moved from Arkanis to Cantonica, in orbit for a series of meetings between various factional supporters of the First Order and the Supreme Leader.  Kylo would gladly leave these scum to go to Rey, but Cantonica is on the far side of the galaxy to where Rey is currently lying underground, <em>dying</em>, and it will take more than a week, even if he takes his TIE.  Time that Rey simply does not have.</p><p>He brings up the galactic map on the display set into the wall, and examines the distances and his various options.  Mitaka watches him silently, and Kylo is all but ignoring him.</p><p>He could order a sector fleet to go, there's one nearby, but Kylo doesn't trust anyone in the First Order to bring her in alive.  Or to even bother getting her. The Knights are in that general region of the galaxy at the moment although he hasn't spoken to them in weeks and he's not sure of their <em>exact </em>location.  And the idea of any of them <em>touching</em> her sickens him. He stalks the length of the briefing room, trying to <em>think</em>.</p><p>He's looking at the map, chewing his bottom lip and trying not to panic.  And then he notices something.  A familiar blip on the map.  It's not as close as he would like, but he thinks it is probably close enough to work.  And it <em>feels</em> like the right answer. There is one person he could ask, and recent events have almost certainly soured her against him, but if she will take his call Kylo knows she will help Rey. </p><p>But he can't ask here.  He stalks out the door without a word to Mitaka, who knows better than to follow him.</p><p> </p><p>In the privacy of his quarters, Kylo has had installed an encrypted communication unit.  He sits at his desk, enters her personal ident code, and prays to the Force that she hasn't changed it since they last spoke.  He's not stupid enough to hide is own ID from her, or that it is him calling her.</p><p>"Well I suppose you think I should feel honoured that the Supreme Leader has called on me."</p><p>Kylo lets out a breath he didn't realise he was holding, and he has a momentary flash of memory.  He is about 8 years old, and Han and Chewie have taken him on a trip to visit Lando.  Except they've taken a long detour for some reason (probably to smuggle something) and Ben Solo is standing eye to eye with an ancient looking woman with wise eyes and large glasses like goggles.  Her eyes are penetrating, like she knows everything about him.</p><p>"Hullo Maz."</p><p>She scowls at him, but she's not closing the broadcast.  Maz has a <em>feeling</em> she needs to hear him out.</p><p>"I need your help Maz.  Something I can't send anyone from the Order for.  Nobody else is close enough or can be trusted."</p><p>"I don't work for you Kylo Ren," she points a thin finger at him, "and I don't work for the Order.  Last time we crossed paths you and your <em>beasts</em> destroyed my castle."</p><p>Kylo has the decency to look ashamed, but he dips he face for only a second before he looks her straight in the eye.</p><p>"This isn't for the Order Maz.  Rey's in trouble, and I'm too far away to get there in time.  She's on Malastare, and she's hurt."</p><p>Maz took off her glasses and peered closely at him.</p><p>"Hmph.  And how do <em>you</em> know that?"  She ponders it for a moment, and Kylo can see her sharp mind putting it all together, and the she cackles.  "Oh my! I must say I didn't foresee <em>this</em>.  How long have you had this connection with each other, <em>Ben Solo?</em> "</p><p>There's a twitch in his eye as she call's him <em>Ben</em>.  Only Rey is allowed to get away with saying that name.  But he needs Maz's help, so he says nothing.</p><p>"As it happens though I'm not on Takodana at the moment."</p><p>Kylo's face falls, and Maz peers at him closely, assessing him.  Maz is positive his expression of grief and loss is genuine, and she finally understands the firm belief Rey had confessed to her about Ben Solo.  His light is still there, buried under the persona of Kylo Ren, but there all the same.  Maz can see hope for the end of all this, that it might just work out for the galaxy, and her next words fill Kylo with relief.</p><p>"It just so happens that I'm on Crait at the moment."</p><p>Maz is even closer than he had hopes, in the next sector, and really just a few systems away.  The charted map route between Crait and Malastare is a little less direct, but Kylo is sure the old pirate has a few private charts of her own.</p><p>From Malastare its a short jump to Chryya, a centre for Spice but with excellent medical facilities in the capital city.  Rey is going to be okay. Maz will be able to comm the pilot and the traitor when she gets in range, and she will have Rey's location.</p><p>Maz will help him, but she makes it clear it's for <em>Rey</em>, not Kylo.  She doesn't voice the hope she has that perhaps this is also for Ben Solo.</p><p> </p><p>Rey is dreaming, floating in her lake.  She can't feel any pain, but there's an edge of panic as she realises he is all alone, and she wants to cry.  Rey doesn't want to die alone, and she though Ben was going to stay with her but he's left her again.</p><p>She's ready to accept death, has been for a long time.  Rey's never been one to take her own life, despite the loneliness and despair, but neither has she cowered from the idea of it and there's been times where she could have embraced it if it had tapped her on the shoulder.  But she wants Ben to be with her when she dies, she wants the comfort of their strange connection.</p><p>As she sinks deeper into the lake, she feels his hand in hers, and the last thing she hears as she slips deeper into the darkness is Ben's voice in her mind.</p><p>
  <em>I'm here Rey.  I'll stay with you until you are safe.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Rey wakes with a pounding headache and Finn asleep in the chair next to her, head resting on the crossed arms he has laid on her bed.   Poe is on a couch against the wall on the other side, head lolled back and snoring, one leg resting on a small footstool.</p><p>The last thing she remembers is walking across the surface of Malastare, the dreadful realisation that they were in danger, and throwing Finn and Poe to safety.  She thinks she fell, but can't really remember it.  And strange dreams.</p><p>A med droid comes to life as it registers the change in her vital signs, and it fusses about her checking the various wires and tubes connected to her body, and Rey feels a sting of shame to find there's one between her leg to empty her bladder.  There's a faint ache of dull bruising throughout her body, fractured bones almost completely healed, and Rey wonders how long she has been here.</p><p>It's not long before Finn and Poe wake up, but the noise they make combined with her headache is disagreeable and makes her cranky and irritated.  She feels guilty at the relief she feels when the med droid tells them to leave so she can rest again.</p><p>The droid is quiet, factual, and reassuring, and afterwards she is left alone to contemplate what she has just learned.</p><p>She's on Chryya, a Spice planet. </p><p>She's been here in the medical facility for a week, most of it in a bacta tank, but yesterday they brought her out.  All the bones are united, if still a bit tender, and most of the bruising ad cuts healed.  But everything will ache for a little while.</p><p>The ground where the landed was five clicks too far west, over an old fuel mine.  The ventilation shaft she fell into opened into an abandoned store room almost 200 feet below the surface, but it seems her fall was slowed by her crashing against walls of the narrow shaft, and the rubble that fell with her. Anywhere else and she'd have had nothing to break her fall, never been found - the mine was several clicks deep. </p><p>Maz had found her there, with a fractured skull.  Apparently she had been forced to drill a hole in her skull to relieve the pressure on her swollen brain, and she was lucky there had been no permanent damage. </p><p>The droid mentioned she might never remember anything more of her ordeal.</p><p>It's strange though.  Rey has been told she was alone in that place for almost a full day cycle.  And yet somehow she doesn't really believe that.</p><p> </p><p>Maz has come to collect them, to take them back to Ajan Kloss.  Rey is out of bed, her legs still slightly shaky and her coordination is a little off.  Her doctor had told her its an after effect of her head injury, the swelling has not completely resolved yet but ultimately she will make a full recovery.  Rey is lucky, if Maz hadn't found her when she did then Rey would not have survived.</p><p>Maz has perched herself on the footstool in front of the couch, and is watching Rey fumble with the ties of her wrap. There is a small package she has brought with her and tossed on the couch, but Maz hasn't said anything about it yet. Now is as good a time as ever to ask Maz about what happened.</p><p>"How did you know where to find me."</p><p>"I told you before child, I was in the neighbourhood and something told me to go see Malastare." </p><p>Rey purses her lips.  Maz had her own connection with the Force, but Rey still had some difficulty believing her.</p><p>Maz has come by the bed now, and grabs Rey's hands.</p><p>"You feel something happened that you cannot explain child," Maz is gently rubbing Reys hands with her own. "Trust your feelings, and in the Force."</p><p>Rey chews her lip, biting back threatened tears, and sits in the chair next to her bed.</p><p>Maz pats Reys hands kindly, and retrieves the small bundle, passing it to Rey.</p><p>"Open it when you are alone child.  But for now we should get moving, the First Order has been seen heading in this direction and it wont do to get caught."</p><p> </p><p>Rey is alone in her bunk on Ajan Kloss when she decides to open the bundle Maz has given her.  Its small, width and height may the size of her spread hands, but not so deep, wrapped in white leather and tied with a piece of cord.</p><p>She feels a tremor in the Force as she unties the cord, and pulls back the leather, and tears prick her eyes as she examines the contents.</p><p>She recognises the blood stain fabric.  It is a long strip that is wrapped around something else, and as she unwinds it she realises it has been torn from the bottom of <em>his</em> cloak.</p><p>Beneath it are a familiar pair of gloves.</p><p>There is a note from Maz, and explanation.</p><p>
  <em>Dear child, I did find you alone at the bottom of the shaft.  But these things somehow came to be there with you, and I felt it was best to keep this between ourselves. Maz.</em>
</p><p>Other than vague dreams, Rey still doesn't remember what happened after she fell.  But there's a fragment of a memory that comes to her now.  After she saved Finn and Poe, it is the very last thing she saw before she <em>did</em> fall.  The expression on his face as he watched it happen.  She doesn't know how he knew where she was, but she knows it wasn't <em>something</em> that told Maz to go Malastare, but <em>someone</em>.</p><p>She's sure of it, and Rey cries now, cradling the gloves to her chest.</p><p>Because even if she can't remember, she knows he was with her.  Ben saved her.</p>
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